jon, good evening to you. >> reporter: good evening, dan. well, the house and the senate have spent the last 24 hours on a series of showboats on bills that have no chance of passing. but republican leaders say they're fully engaged with the white house. and have spoken with the president this afternoon to try to find a way to break the impasse. finally, signs of progress.. >> i'm confident and optimistic that we're going to get an agreement in the very near future and resolve this crisis. >> in spite of our differences, we're dealing with reasonable, responsible people, who want this crisis to end as quickly as possible. and i'm confident we will. >> reporter: you wouldn't know it by looking at what congress is actually doing. >> the american people are looking for a real solution. >> reporter: the house spent the day voting down the bill offered by senate democrats, even though the senate hadn't passed it yet. >> there is absolutely no excuse for this reckless, unpatriotic behavior on the part of the republicans. >> let it be clear, as god